London roadshow for NELP VI raises interest amongst oil majors
New Delhi: The recently launched sixth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP VI) for fifty five oil and gas exploration blocks has received a good response with nearly 82 international companies participating.

An official statement from the Petroleum Ministry has said that in the one-on-one meetings with the visiting Indian delegation, leading exploration and production (E&P) companies gave positive indications of participating in the current Indian offer.

The participating companies included BP, Shell, Total, Statoil, Chevron, BG, Repsol, Cairn Energy, Woodside, Petrobras, Maersk, Devon, ENI, Burren, BHP, Ensearch, Goepetrol and Premier oil. As many as 38 prominent E&P companies were present.
The next roadshow would be held in Houston (US) on March 30 for NELP-VI and on March 31 for coal-bed methane (CBM-III).

Following the success of NELP-V, the Government has announced the launch of NELP-VI offering 55 exploration blocks, which include 24 deepwater blocks, six shallow-water blocks and 25 onshore blocks. This offer covers the highest-ever acreage of 3.52 lakh sq km, nearly 12 per cent of the Indian sedimentary area.
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Coffee Board brewing a generic campaign to raise sales
Bangalore: The Coffee Board is coming up with a fresh generic campaign, in which it will seek the help of a Brazilian expert, to boost domestic consumption even as it sharpens its export strategy to regain lost share in key markets.

According to the union minister of state for commerce, Jairam Ramesh, who was speaking to industry representatives in Bangalore on Tuesday, the new promotional campaign would be ready over the next three to six months.

India, which grows close to 2.75 lakh tonnes of coffee, exports about 80 per cent of its produce while 20 per cent is consumed domestically. The domestic consumption that was stagnant at 60,000 tonnes per annum till 2000 has increased to 80,000 tonnes in the last five years. Ramesh said that his ministry has set a target to the Coffee Board to double the domestic consumption in the next ten years.

Ramesh said, Brazilian marketing consultant Carlos Brando would be in India in April to study and advise the Coffee Board on charting out an aggressive marketing strategy. Carlos Brando of P&A Marketing has played a key role in promoting Brazilian coffees. Brazil, which faced problems similar to that of India in boosting consumption, has trebled its consumption in about a decade.

Ramesh also said that the Board, in collaboration with the industry, would be sharpening its export strategy and regain market share especially in Russia, which had been a captive market for Indian instant coffees till recently. Nearly two-thirds of the Russian market had been lost and efforts would be made to regain it, he added.
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Company Secretaries Bill gets Presidential nod
New Delhi: The Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill, 2006 has been enacted, with the president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, giving his assent to the Bill, an official release said. The amendments to the Company Secretaries Act, 1980 have come about as a result of the changes in the country's economic and corporate environment over the years.

These changes include developments in the capital markets, their growth, and the dismantling of system of economic controls and the need to enable development of an institution to focus on good corporate governance practices by training qualified professionals serving in the corporate sector.
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India to start trade centre in the Gulf region
New Delhi: The Indian commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath has said that there will be an India Trade Centre in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on the borders of Sharjah and Dubai, aimed at facilitating India's exports to the Gulf region.

The proposal was agreed upon at an interaction between the union commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath and the Indian Business and Professional Council (IBPC) at a reception in Dubai on Monday evening, which was attended by over 300 non-resident Indian representatives of IBPC based in the Gulf region. The proposed trade centre would be largely business-driven and showcase India's products and capabilities in different fields, Nath said.

Nath who is on an official visit to the UAE and Muscat also met Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE. During the meeting, Nath conveyed India's concern over a new UAE law which stipulated that no company could have more than 34 per cent of its personnel belonging to any one nationality.

The emergence of UAE as a re-export centre is reflected in India's growing trade, as its trade volume last year crossed US$7bn with 38 per cent growth. India's imports from the UAE also grew by an impressive 122 per cent to reach US$4.5bn in 2004-05.
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